Monday, July 18, 2011

Fiery Habanero Doritos

Chip fanatics jump at the chance to try a new flavor of chips, even if they don't exactly jump at the chance to have their mouths catch on fire. As evidenced by my eating of a pickled chili pepper this weekend, and subsequent freaking out from firemouth for 10 minutes, extreme heat and I aren't the best of friends. But I enjoyed all 3 of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree burn Doritos that came out awhile ago (if only for the challenge and fun). The 3rd degree were Habanero, and these seem to be the same flavor, just a bit more tame.

Unlike some flavors of snacks that pride themselves on being hot, these actually do a pretty good job of recreating the habanero pepper flavor. For 3-6 chips, these are good- pepper flavor, then a slow creeping in of heat that gets stronger with every chip. This is habanero.

Towards the end of the bag, I got stupid. "These aren't so bad, the heat is staying in my mouth and I like it!" I stupidly said. Then I got to the crumbs at the bottom- you know, the part where the ratio of chip to seasoning drastically changes. Then, I hurt. A lot. The heat didn't go away and I didn't like it. There are foods out there that are waaay hotter, but these are the hottest chips I've had. And although the heat wasn't entirely unbearable, it certainly wasn't comfortable, and I was gulping water in a feeble attempt to make the heat stop.

If you like the pepper flavor and want a kick to knock your taste buds out, you'll love these. But unless you want to continue getting kicked, I'd highly suggest taking your time with these chips, or just skipping them all together. They definitely live up to their fiery name.

I'm not going to give these a rating, because it would be too skewed by a reviewer who just wasn't ready for the kind of fire these chips promise. But they're habanero, and they're fiery, so taste at your own risk. -Mike